Brown & Toland Announces 2008 Financi...( SAN FRANCISCO June 11 /- Brown & ...),Health

SAN FRANCISCO, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown & Toland announced today a strong financial performance in 2008, with an operating income of $10.2 million before physician bonuses and taxes on total revenue of $236.3 million. Brown & Toland remains one of California's most financially successful and stable independent practice associations (IPAs), posting strong earnings for nine consecutive years.

In 2009, Brown & Toland will distribute $10.7 million in physician bonuses. Additionally, Brown & Toland adjusted its physician compensation schedule on January 1, 2009, updating physician fees based on 2008 Medicare rates. This adjustment will result in an additional $5.2 million to Brown & Toland physicians in 2009.

"We are continuing our strong financial performance and our enhancement of electronic physician practice solutions," said Gloria Austin, Brown & Toland's chief executive officer. "In 2008, we continued to deploy electronic tools to our physician offices and expanded our clinical results reporting database, giving Brown & Toland physicians direct access to more than 41 million clinical results online. This has already resulted in a reduction of unnecessary duplicate testing."

Since Brown & Toland launched its electronic health record (EHR), the medical group has spent more than $12 million on its electronic initiatives. This total does not include the ongoing technical and practice support that the organization provides its physicians. While other groups have launched EHRs in individual physician offices, Brown & Toland's EHR is different in that it connects across its independent community physician network and to multiple hospitals and independent laboratories, resulting in a robust system that rivals the most technologically advanced physician group model.

Additionally, Brown & Toland is one of the first IPAs in the nation to build an enterpris
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